NCAA

Perpetual protests forfeiture of win after wearing wrong uniform

Norman Lee Benjamin Riego on Jul 13, 2017 04:49 PM

PROTEST THE PROTEST. Perpetual is seeking to regain its win last Tuesday which was lost due to a league ruling.

Two days after complications arose due to a jersey mix-up, the NCAA is yet to completely iron out what will happen in the matchup between College of St. Benilde and University of Perpetual Help.

The Altas on Thursday filed a protest to the league decision that forfeited their win last Tuesday.

Then, the NCAA ruled that the Las Pinas-based squad was ineligible to play in its matchup against the Blazers.

The league cited the rule which states, “any athlete whose playing uniform does not conform with the rules will be ineligible to participate in a given game/match.”

The rule was pointing to the fact that the Altas were clad in maroon when they were scheduled to be donning their light uniforms.

Two days later, however, Perpetual is questioning why the game even pushed through in the first place.

As per sources within the team, the Altas’ light uniforms were not ready for their first game of the season. As such, they were nothing but willing to accept the decision that would have forced them to default last Tuesday.

CSB head coach TY Tang appeared to be of the same mind. “For me, this game was already over before it started. It should have been a forfeiture,” he told reporters post-game.

However, league officials led by commissioner Bai Cristobal allowed the two teams to play while both wearing dark uniforms.

Perpetual took the 66-60 decision – a decision that was later overturned on the same day.

With the protest, the Altas are seeking that the result of the game that was played be upheld.

For their part, NCAA management committee chairman Fr. Glynn Ortega, OAR said that they are still discussing the newly-forwarded protest. “We’re still deliberating on it,” he said.

The league ruling also covered the Juniors game between the Junior Altas and the Junior Blazers where the former was also wearing dark uniform instead of light.